Why Danny Williams Does Not Go Camping
by StBridget
Summary: Danny just knew something would happen if he let Steve take the kids camping.


**Hawaii Five-0 is property of CBS and its creators.  
**

 **A/N: This is part of my informal collection of family fluff hurt/comfort. You can decide whether Steve and Danny are a couple; in my head canon, the answer is "always". :)**

"Okay, campers, who's ready to learn survival skills?" Steve asked his companions. Two hands immediately shot into the air. "Looks like Sara and Charlie are ready. How about you, Grace?"

"I already know them," Grace said. "I learned them when I went camping with the Aloha Girls years ago. I don't see why I have to be here."

Steve sighed. Grace had been sulking ever since they arrived, partly because Danny and Lou had put their collective feet down at Will coming, partly because Danny had made her leave her phone at home, and partly, Steve assumed, because she was fifteen years old. Steve had already been off at the military academy when Mary was fifteen, but he had it on good authority from both Danny and Lou that this was typical teenage girl behavior. "You're here to help out," Steve said. Actually, Danny had told Grace "you're going so you can keep that Neanderthal out of trouble. Lord knows I don't want Sara's camping trip turning into a repeat of yours." Steve pointed out that it was highly unlikely they'd run into a crazed criminal in the woods, but Danny just muttered, "that's what I thought last time," and refused to budge.

So, here Steve, Grace, Sara, and Charlie were, camped out in the woods for the weekend so Steve could help Sara get her wilderness badge. She'd missed the Aloha Girls trip due to a bad cold, so Steve had promised to make it up to her. Charlie had asked if he could go, too, and Danny, after much grousing, had agreed, saying "if Steve can't keep you safe, no one can. Oh, lord, did I just mention Steve McGarrett and safe in the same sentence? What was I thinking?" Grace was sent along as "chaperone", partly to keep an eye on Steve and the others, and partly so Steve could keep an eye on her.

Steve supervised breakfast clean-up, banked the fire, and checked everybody's backpacks—small ones with snacks for Sara and Charlie, larger ones with first aid kits, rope, and other survival gear for Grace and Steve. Steve checked his list. Danny had forbidden knife throwing—"I'm sure Chin will agree, you are not letting our children anywhere near sharp objects"—but there was still plenty to do—leaf and bug identification, tracking, geology, and "plenty of things to keep a SuperSEAL entertained" as Danny had put it. Armed and ready, the four of them set out.

The first hour or so was uneventful. Steve pointed out the interesting flora and fauna to a rapt Sara and Charlie, and Grace complained the whole way. Really, she was sounding more like her father every day, Steve thought, part fondly, part exasperatedly.

Then, disaster struck. Grace wasn't watching where she was going, too busy slapping at mosquitoes to pay attention to where she was putting her feet, and tripped over a log. She landed hard on her ankle and let out a blood-curdling shriek. Steve heard the unmistakable sound of a bone snapping.

"Gracie, are you okay?" Charlie asked anxiously, rushing over to his sister.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just twisted my ankle," Grace said, clenching her teeth against the pain.

"Let me take a look." Steve bent down and straightened the leg as gently as he could, but Grace couldn't suppress a scream. Charlie looked even more worried. "She'll be fine," Steve assured the boy. To Grace, he said, sotto voce, "You know it's a bit more than twisted, right?"

Grace nodded. "I don't want to worry him."

"I understand." Steve raised his voice to address the two younger children. "This is a great opportunity to show you some basic first aid. Sara, get me the kit from my pack, will you?"

Sara complied. Steve removed an ace bandage, then turned to Grace. "Her ankle's dislocated, so the first thing we're going to do is pop it back into place."

"You're going to _what_?" Grace asked, horrified.

"Don't worry, I've done this plenty of times," Steve said. "I'd tell you it won't hurt, but it's going to hurt like a bi—bugger," he amended just in time.

Grace grit her teeth and nodded. "Do it."

Steve went back into teacher mode. "Watch how I do this. The trick is to go fast to minimize the pain. Hopefully, you'll never have to do this, but just in case, this is how." Oh, Danny was going to love this. Steve had a feeling this rated just below knife throwing on Danny's list of "things inappropriate to teach children". Steve could argue it fell under basic first aid, but he doubted Danny would agree—Steve could just hear him—"You demonstrated on my _daughter,_ Steven! In front of a six- and seven-year old! That is not appropriate!". Steve gave a practiced twist, popping the joint back into place. Grace couldn't help screaming.

Charlie patted her hand. "It's okay, Gracie. Uncle Steve will make it all better."

Steve wished that were the case. All he could do was make her as comfortable as possible until they could get her medical attention. Which was a problem in and of itself. The car was a good five miles away. Steve was pretty sure that even with her ankle bandaged Grace wasn't going to make it to the car under her own power, and for Steve to carry would be possible—he had, after all, carried heavier burdens in training and in reality in the SEALs—but it wouldn't be fun, and he still had two young children to deal with. A helicopter wasn't an option because they were in dense jungle. Maybe he could use the sat phone to call for an ATV. That could be another survival lesson. Oh, yeah, Danny was going to _love_ this.

Steve turned his attention back to the problem at hand. He unwrapped the ace bandage. "Okay, let me show you how to wrap an injury." This, at least, had been on the original list, so Danny couldn't possibly object to that, right? Knowing Danny, he would find a way. "I'm going to get started, then let each of you take a turn." He started the wrapping, showing the two kids the pattern, then let them each wrap a few turns before finishing and fastening the bandage himself. Grace, to her credit, bore it all stoically, not letting so much as a whimper escape her.

That done, Steve turned to the next step. "Now, I'm going to radio for someone to pick us up. This is how you use a sat phone." He demonstrated as he dialed Chin.

"Steve, what's wrong?" Chin demanded as soon as he picked up.

"Gracie's hurt. We need an ATV to meet us. You can get our coordinates, right?"

Steve could hear Chin tapping on the computer. "Got 'em. Stay where you are, and I'll get someone out to you as soon as possible, but it'll probably be at least an hour. Have you told Danny."

"No," Steve said. "I figured it would be better to tell him in person." That rang false even to his ears. Danny would _not_ appreciate coming to pick up his children and finding one of them in the ER getting a cast put on her ankle. Truth was, Steve was just a coward.

Chin let it go. "It's your funeral. I'll tell him to meet us at the parking lot, but I won't say why."

"Thanks, Chin," Steve said, heartfelt. He hung up and turned back to his charges. "It'll be a while, so let's make Grace comfortable, okay? Sara, hand me the blanket from my backpack." Sara complied, and Steve tucked it around Grace. "Now, it's very important to keep the injured limb elevated, so I'm going to put my pack under it." He suited actions to words. "Finally, you want to ice it to keep the swelling down. They make special ice packs that will cool when you break them open. You should always carry one." He found the item he spoke of, activated it, and put it on Grace's ankle. She hissed in pain, but was otherwise silent. "There we go. Now, who wants to play 'I Spy with my Little Eye' while we wait?"

Sara and Charlie threw themselves eagerly into the game, and even Grace participated some. Steve used the opportunity to teach them about the various things they saw—uses for the leaves, names of various bugs, mating habits of the birds (Danny probably wouldn't approve of that, but Steve had to say _something_ and he was tired of just identifying them).

Finally, Chin approached on an ATV with Kono following on another and Danny on a third. Danny stormed up to Steve. "Do you want to tell me why you have to have ATV's sent to pick you up?"

This was what Steve had been dreading. "Sara and Charlie were tired?" he tried.

"That is not an appropriate response!" Steve started to say something, but Danny cut him off. "I'll tell you why—One, that sounded like a question, and two, if they weren't capable of a five mile hike, Chin and I wouldn't have let them come along!"

There was no avoiding it now. "Grace fell and broke her ankle."

Danny rushed over to his daughter. "Are you okay, Monkey?"

Grace was pale, but she was putting up a good front. "I'm find, Danno. Uncle Steve put it back in place and bandaged it." Too late, she realized Steve hadn't mentioned it was dislocated, too.

Danny nearly blew a gasket. "Uncle Steve _what_?!" He rounded on the SEAL. "This is what I get for letting you take them camping. My daughter falls and breaks her ankle!"

Steve cringed. "At least no one got shot."

Clearly, that was the wrong thing to say. " _That's_ your defense?! That no one got shot? _That's_ supposed to make me feel better?"

"Sorry, Danny," Steve said in a small voice.

Danny glared at him. "You better be sorry." He swept his arms in an arc, encompassing the entire jungle with his gesture. "This, this right here, this is why I don't go camping."


End file.
